Jar of Hearts
by Fang lover23
Summary: AU; When she finds someone at her school bruised and beaten, Jo steps up to the bullies because it's what she believes is right. Just because she's a girl doesn't mean she can't fight. Written for the NOH8 Campaign.


**Hey, all. Here's another story for you all. There's just a couple things you need to know:**

**This is AU, so Jo and Camille live in Minnesota with the guys. But the main, most important thing, to remember in the story is that Logan is NOT friends with Kendall, James, and Carlos. The reason will come to light very soon...**

**And I'm not the biggest fan of Jo at all, but I was daydreaming at work the other day, and this idea popped into my head…except I had imagined it happening at MY high school. It may say Jo & Logan, but they won't be together in this story. Just friendship.**

**Jo's role in this situation is very important- I think it's the fact that she's a girl (obviously… -headdesk-) that makes this more interesting. I can't really say more without giving something away. Xd**

**And just a warning, there's some pretty iffy language here, but not bad enough to make it 'M'. This is another fic for one of my favorite causes- the NOH8 Campaign.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was an unusually cold January day in Greenfield, Minnesota. All the students at Greenfield High School were buzzing about the sudden arctic temperatures. Heavier coats and massive amounts of scarves and mittens were necessary to even make it outside. A cold front had recently rolled through, but the weather had taken a major turn over the last twenty-four hours. But that's what happened when you lived in the Midwest- the weather was unpredictable.

Inside, it was lunchtime for Duluth High's four-hundred students. The mood was gloomy and solemn and gray clouds hung over every teenager in the cafeteria as they each wolfed down their meals.

Junior Jo Taylor sat with her close group of friends- Camille Sanders, Diana Mull, Stephanie King, and the sophomore twins Mandy and Sandy Stevens- on the left side of the lunch room. They all looked down at their plates glumly, but still smiled and made small talk about their day so far.

"So the spring musical is coming up, and I was thinking about going out for it," the resident drama queen Camille babbled. "We're doing_ Grease_ this year, and I am so excited for it! I wonder what part I should try for…"

"Oh, Camille, we all know you'll get a major role no matter what," Jo comforted from beside the raven-haired girl. No one really understood why she doubted herself; she may have been over-the-top, but she was an insanely good actress, and nobody in school would be surprised if she _didn't_ land a major role if she moved out to Hollywood.

She blushed and turned away from them dramatically. "Shut up," she mumbled, which set off a round of silent giggling around the table.

Lunch passed by without another hitch, though Camille had joined back in with the conversations because she had only been joking in her melodramatic way.

Jo looked over to the front of the cafeteria where all the jocks sat. She watched as the hockey team, clothed in their usual game-day display of jerseys, stand up and walk out in the form of a mob, almost in tandem. All the teams did this - every day. It was a routine that no one questioned. And no one wanted to stand up to the hockey team especially.

After several more minutes of Jo looking down at her empty tray, not really participating in the conversation anymore, she jumped up to throw her trash away. "I'm gonna go to the restroom really quick. Don't wait up for me. I'll see you next period!" She sent a soft smile to her friends and turned around, heading for the exit.

She headed for the bathroom that was more out of the way. She hated that the one closest to the cafeteria was always so cluttered with the plastic girls of her school, so she always used the one more 'off the beaten path'. Hardly anyone realized that it was actually there, for it was in the deserted hallway that was creepier than it was worth thinking about. It was a nice place to have some peace and quiet since not many of the students knew about it.

Jo opened the door and set about her bathroom routine. As she looked in the mirror once she washed her hands, she fixed her long, straight dirty-blonde hair slightly. She wasn't a vain person, but she had a habit of messing with her hair during the day, and now was when she could set it straight again.

Taking one last look over herself, she deemed herself okay to head over to her locker to get ready for her next class. As she exited, she heard whimpering from the boys' bathroom next door. Surprised to hear another person in the secluded hallway, she went over to the door to investigate. She knocked lightly (it was the _boys'_ bathroom, after all) and called out, "Hello? Are you okay in there?" Hearing no response, only more cries, she hesitantly opened the door and gasped at what she saw.

The boy was curled up in the fetal position, scrawny arms wrapped around his bent legs. His head was buried in his knees and Jo could tell that he was sobbing as she saw his shoulders shake. From what little skin she could see, there was a small patch of what looked like blood on his hand and on his pressed, blue button-up.

"L-Logan?" Jo gaped at him.

At her words, Logan Mitchell's head snapped up, causing Jo to take a sharp intake of breath. He looked _awful_: his naturally pale complexion was even whiter than usual, with a gray tinge to it; his gelled raven spikes were disheveled and matted down with a wet substance that Jo couldn't make out; his skinny but broad shoulders were tense and shaking under his sweater vest. But worst of all, and what brought tears to the girl's eyes, were the bruises and blood that covered _everything_.

Logan had the beginnings of a black eye showing on his right one; his left one was swollen shut. There was barely any place on him that _didn't_ have traces of bruising or blood. Trails of crimson ran down his scared face from the cuts all over his cheeks and hairline, soaking into his shirt when they met his collar bone. Looking closer, Jo saw that Logan's shirt was unbuttoned a bit, and she put her hand over her mouth in shock: there were _handprints_ around his neck. "…Jo?" he squeaked out, his eyes looking at her hazily, like he didn't really know where he was.

The blonde slowly approached him, so as not to startle him in any way. She dropped down in front of him and tentatively reached out a comforting hand. She laid her hand gently on his shoulder as he silently gave her permission to do so. Her heart continued to break when she saw him unconsciously leaning into her touch. A feeling came over her and she enveloped the broken boy into her arms, rubbing her hands up and down his back gingerly as he sobbed into the crook of her neck relentlessly. Jo still didn't know what had happened, but for now, this was all she could do.

A few minutes passed, and Logan's cries quieted until he was only taking deep gulps of breath to keep calm. He backed away from her torso to wipe the tears off of his face. "Jo, I- I-"

Jo cut him off by taking his face in her hands, rubbing her thumbs on his cheeks, ridding his beautiful face (girls couldn't lie by saying Logan was ugly in any way) of any leftover tears. "Logan, you have nothing to be sorry for." She paused, wondering if Logan was ready to talk. "Can you tell me who did this to you?"

Logan looked in her eyes and saw nothing but sympathy and worry. True, they weren't really _friends_, but they did get along if they ever worked with each other. Since their class sizes were so small, almost everyone had been together since pre-K. There were no hard feelings over anything between the two juniors. But Logan wasn't sure if he should tell her the truth. He did trust her, but…

"I…I can't. They said they'd hurt me! They said they'd kill me if I told anybody!" He was becoming hysterical at this point, and Jo didn't know what to do. "They called me names- horrible names." He got a faraway look in his chocolate eyes. "Then they…they…did _this_," he spat out, disgusted, gesturing down to his bloodied clothes and body.

Jo set her jaw, determined to get a full answer out of him. "Logan," she took his shoulders and tilted his chin up to meet her eyes. "I really need you to tell me who did this. No one deserves to have this happen to them- except whoever did this to you. I don't care if they said they'd hurt you, or threatened you like that; I will make sure that you never get hurt by them. I know we're not exactly best buds, but I do care that someone hurt you. Now," she settled a hand on his back once again, rubbing small circles. "Who. Did. This? And what did they call you?"

He looked into her soulful green eyes- almost the same color as his attacker. "They called me-" he took a deep, soothing breath. "They called me a 'fag' and a 'homo'." His face contorted in disgust.

This was a shocking revelation to Jo. "Oh, Logan…are you really gay?"

The teen turned his head away in shame. "Please don't hate me," he whispered to the empty stalls.

Instead, Jo gathered him up in another embrace. "Aww, Logan, I could never hate you for that! You're unhateable!" She felt the boy's shoulders rise and fall as laughter escaped his lips. "I'm actually really honored that you told me. No one else knows, do they?" Logan shook his head. "Well," she started. "Except the jerks that did this to you. But that doesn't matter right now- let's get you to the nurse."

They both knew that Logan had a lot of medical experience since he wanted to study to be a doctor. "Can I get cleaned up here? I know nothing's broken; I just have some bruising. I don't need anyone seeing me all bloodied up." The girl in front of him winced at his use of words.

She smiled softly at him. "Of course; whatever makes you comfortable. I'll help you."

It took several minutes because Logan's body was still sensitive, but eventually he looked decent except for the forming bruises and black eyes. Jo sighed, seeing as how he didn't look that much better. "Come on, let's go to the office and call your parents to come pick you up." She took his hand in hers and they made their way back to the main junior hallway, careful to avoid anywhere there might be people. Surprisingly, Logan felt safe with Jo. He may have been gay, but having her with him was something he _really_ liked. He smelled a new friendship.

Suddenly he stopped them. "Jo, you should know who the people that beat me up are." She glanced at him expectantly. "It was Kendall, James, and Carlos," he said in a rush, slightly regretting opening his mouth.

Jo's face reddened in anger and she took off in a furious pace toward the senior hallway. Logan's face paled again. "Jo! Jo! Wait, you don't have to do this! It's not a big deal! See? I'm fine now!" He tried grabbing her arm to stop her.

"No, Logan! It's _not_ fine!" she screeched at him. "This is _so_ typical of them! I'm tired of all the _bullshit_ they pull!" Logan had never heard her swear before. Jo paced, frustrated, tangling her fingers through her hair. "You're _sure_ it's them?" she asked him.

Logan gulped audibly, but nodded confidently. "Y-yes. I'm one-hundred percent sure."

Jo turned and began walking ferociously again. "That…is…_IT_!" she huffed.

The raven boy decided to just let her be and begrudgingly followed her down the senior hallway, getting looks from almost everyone because of his mangled face. He spotted Camille talking to her senior friend, and after watching Jo stomp down the hall, she gained a knowing look on her face, immediately going to Logan's side. He smiled thankfully at her and they set off, following Jo in her tirade.

White hot fury flowed through her veins as she strolled up to the three biggest hockey players, unafraid of the seniors. Since this was right after lunch, the whole hallway was crowded. _Good_, she thought, _a bigger audience to see what bastards the star players really are_. She shoved the blond leader, Kendall. "What the hell is your problem, Knight?" she yelled at him.

The boy's bushy eyebrows rose, and he got a twinkle in his eye that told the girl that he knew exactly what she was talking about. But he said, in an innocent voice, "I don't know what you mean, Miss Taylor."

"Oh, don't try and charm me, Knight, because it won't work. You know what you did to Logan!"

"Little bitch deserved what he got," Kendall's pal James Diamond piped up quietly, not even trying to pretend. He didn't even look up from his pocket mirror with which he was using to adjust his perfectly coifed chestnut hair.

"Shut your mouth, Diamond!" Jo snapped. "I know it was _all_ of you. You should be _ashamed_ of what you did, you homophobic pricks!"

"Ooh, such language coming from sweet little Jo Taylor," Carlos Garcia joined in mockingly. "What are you gonna do? Call your little pal Lo-GAYN to help you? Two girls against the three of _us_?"

"Ha! You'd never stand a chance! Stupid juniors," James chided, seniority apparent in his voice.

Kendall, standing at nearly six feet tall, sauntered over to the girl and got so close to her face that she could feel his hot breath on her cheeks. Kendall was also one of the most beautiful guys in the school, but Jo was not one to be attracted to the likes of him and his gang. "Careful, Taylor. We don't need you…breaking a nail." He smirked in his typical way.

That was the last straw. Jo couldn't stand when people (guys mostly) called her weak just because she was a girl. Nobody except her lunch table friends knew how strong she really was compared to these hockey-heads.

So she swung at him, hitting him square in the jaw.

The entire hallway gasped in unison. _No one_ messed with anyone on the team and got away with it. Jo may have just gotten her death wish.

Kendall turned his head back to the center, rubbing his jaw, shocked at the turn of events. "You're gonna pay for that, Taylor." His voice was dangerously low.

But before he could carry out his threat, the blonde girl swept his long, lean legs out from under him with a swift kick. Then she jumped on top of him and began wailing on him, throwing punch after punch. Most of the students were too stunned to move, and the rest were chanting 'FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!', just egging Jo on more.

"How does it feel, Knight? To get beaten and battered?" she yelled out between punches. Kendall's nose was bent and bleeding and he couldn't seem to get his synapses to fire quick enough to punch back. A _girl_ was beating him up. His pride was just as bruised as his face was becoming.

"WHAT is going on here?"

Jo felt herself being pulled off of the bully. The arms around her waist were skinny, and she recognized them as Camille's. The brunette girl looked into her friend's eyes and saw a deadly gleam in them. This was the first time she'd been…_scared_ of the blonde girl in her arms. There was no stopping her now: she was still flailing her arms, trying desperately to get another swing at the hockey player.

As the girls watched Kendall be helped up by his team mates, Principal Matthews showed up to disperse the crowd. He noticed Kendall's bloody features and saw Jo's pent-up anger practically _oozing _from her body. "Miss Taylor," he approached her. "I'm very disappointed in you."

"I was only standing up for Logan!" she defended. Logan shrank behind Camille at her words.

"How so?" Mr. Matthews inquired.

"They," she pointed angrily at Kendall, James and Carlos. "Beat up Logan in the boy's bathroom in the abandoned hallway. I helped clean him up; but when he told me it was _them_, I was fed up with all the homophobic CRAP they've pulled!" The crowd gasped once again. "Yeah, that's right. The _only_ reason that they beat poor, defenseless Logan up is that he is gay. They called him a fag, and a homo." She settled herself down further with a deep sigh. "I was only defending his honor, since these jerks don't deserve anything."

Principal Matthews turned to the boys. "Is this true?" he asked suspiciously. When he got not answer, he assumed that Jo was right and shook his head in disbelief at their behavior. "This is an act I _will not_ tolerate at this school. In light of all that I've heard today, I hereby EXPEL you three, pending a formal hearing. I want you all out of my school right now! And as of this moment, a Zero-Tolerance policy is being put into place to prevent anything like this from happening again."

Cheers erupted all over the hallway as the three bullies were led away, the complaints and cries of their fellow teammates following them down the hall. Jo squealed in excitement as Camille and Logan brought her into a three-way hug. "Jo, I can never thank you enough!" Logan fawned over her, tears of happiness leaking from his dark irises. "I think it's safe to say that you're officially my new best friend. After everything you've done for me today, there's not anything in the world I want more."

Jo just chuckled lovingly and squeezed her two friends tighter, ecstatic that things worked out the way they did. The bullies were gone and they all felt secure once again, and Logan had never had a happier outlook on life.

As the crowd dispersed, many members of the student body were coming up to Logan and giving him pats on the back and hugs, letting him know that he had their full support. He never thought _anyone_ would accept him for who he was, let alone almost the entire school!

But one thing was still festering in the back of Logan's mind. "Hey, Jo," he began. "Where did those moves come from? Even Kendall, Carlos, and James didn't punch me like that!"

Jo blushed slightly while Camille smirked knowingly. "I guess I forgot to mention that I'm a third-level black belt in karate."

Nobody at school ever thought to mess with _her_ again.

* * *

(_2 weeks later_)

"What about him?"

"Nah, he's too 'punk'. Ooh, what about _him_?"

"Hmm, there's potential…"

Jo, Logan, and Camille sat at the downtown Duluth mall, boy-watching. In all honesty, both of the girls had always wanted a gay friend to do this with. It was a win-win-win situation.

They chuckled at how weird they were being. They had been shopping earlier in the day- Saturday- but had stopped at the food court for some grub. Logan had a slice of pizza, Camille had a plate of spaghetti, and Jo was enjoying some sushi and a salad.

Moving his neck around, Logan's eyes widened when he saw a group of three guys with their backs facing him. "Oh, hey, how about them?" He pointed them out to the two girls.

Camille nodded her head. "Ha, there's one for each of us," she laughed before taking a bite of her noodles.

But as the boys turned around, the three sitting at the table all did spit takes, almost choking on their lunches. They mockingly pretended to clean off their tongues in disgust at the _thought_ of even wanting to go out with the guys that had just been revealed.

Kendall, James, and Carlos walked out of the food court, sour looks on their faces. The bullies spotted the group across the way and sent deadly glares their way. Jo was responsible for the hearing that determined that the boys would be expelled from Greenfield High School; Jo had gotten off easy with just one detention to serve for starting the fight in the first place. The board had completely understood her reasoning, but still had to punish her for the violence. Because there were security cameras set up around the school, Logan's beating had been caught on tape, along with the boys' verbal assault during the punches, and there had been no doubt that they _weren't_ guilty.

In return, the three juniors sent matching cold glares back at the boys. That was the only thing the hockey players ever did- there were no more confrontations with any of their old schoolmates since they now knew of Jo's abilities. The 'bullies' had lost their touch.

After watching them walk out of the mall, Jo turned back to her salad. "Whatever, guys. They're jerks. We don't have to worry about them anymore."

"Damn straight!" Logan agreed, his happy mood coming back instantly.

"Excuse me," came a silky voice from beside the group's table.

Looking up, they all saw a teen around their age with light brown hair and piercing blue eyes, surrounded by two of his friends- one dirty blond and one raven-haired boy.

"Yes, can we help you?" Camille asked him in a friendly voice.

The brunette flushed a bit. "Umm, yes. I was wondering if you would like to get together sometime?" he asked, facing Logan.

Logan was shocked. "M-me?" he stuttered. It was a big surprise that a guy wanted to go out with _him_.

The boy laughed. "Yes you! Let me introduce myself: I'm Matt, and these are my buds Alex and Zack." He introduced the raven and blond respectively. "How about we all go see a movie later?"

Alex walked over to Jo, and Zack strolled over next to Camille. "My friends are a little shy," Matt started. "But they were wondering the same thing."

"Do we know you guys?" Jo wondered curiously.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. We're seniors at Greenfield high. We saw what Jo did to Kendall, and we were seriously impressed. We'd had enough of him, too. I'd never been comfortable with my sexuality until I heard about what happened to Logan. You're a real inspiration to me in the fight against homophobia." Jo blushed humbly at Matt's little speech. He continued, "So…how about that movie? It could be a triple-date."

While the offer was quite appealing, the group sitting at the table silently turned their heads in and conversed silently. Inside, Logan was beaming at the thought of having his first boyfriend. In the end they all agreed on the same thing. Turning back to the charming boys, they said in unison. "Okay. We're in."

The boys' faces lit up, and they each joined their respective date. The boys threw away the trash from Logan's, Camille's, and Jo's lunches and then took their partner's arm, escorting them out of the mall.

Logan looked at his date, Matt, and felt his face heat up for a couple reasons: Matt was extremely good looking, and it was a wonder none of them had ever heard of him around school. And secondly, he looked really sincere. Logan was glad that he could be somewhat of a role model to someone like Matt- struggling to accept himself when society doesn't, and standing up to the bullies who would have treated him wrong if they'd have known before. Through his daydreaming haze, Logan felt Matt squeeze his arm reassuringly, and the raven-haired boy could feel the beginnings of a beautiful relationship.

Jo and Camille looked over to the two interlocked boys, smiling wide that Logan was finally happy. They shared grateful looks with each other, for once, not fearing that Logan would be alone anymore. At last, everything was at peace…and they all had dates with three hot guys. Life couldn't be more perfect.

* * *

**So, yeah, cheesy ending. Not my fault. But everything turned out okay! YAY! :D**

**It was actually pretty easy making Kendall and the other guys complete buttheads. I did have some trouble making Kendall get beat up, because, frankly, he's my favorite. But it was fun all the same. :)**

**And if you haven't, PLEASE check out the NOH8 and It Gets Better movements. They are my inpiration for almost EVERYTHING I do, and their fight to stop homophobia is amazing!**

**Some feedback would be nice...reviews AND flames are welcome. But if you're going to flame me about gays, go ahead; just remember that you're the one who sat through this whole anti-homophobia fic.**

**Just saying. :)**

**Anyway, enough of my rant. R & R please!**

**NOH8 = LOVE**


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